LONDON, England ● Oscar Pistorius signed off from London 2012 in style as he exacted some revenge on Brazil’s Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira by winning 400m – T44 gold in a new Paralympic record time.
The 25-year-old has lost his 100m and 200m crowns over the past week, with the latter going to Oliveira.
But this evening the South African romped to victory ahead of a USA one-two of Blake Leeper and David Prince.
Oliveira could only finish fourth after a strong start, with Pistorius winning the last event at the Olympic Stadium in a Paralympic record time of 46.68.
‘It is very, very special to me,’ he said. ‘It was the last event of my season, the last event of the London 2012 Paralympic Games [at the stadium]. It was just so special.
‘I was actually thinking about something beside my race coming into the home straight. I could hear the crowd, which was very weird and so loud. I thought “let’s just finish off on a good note”.’
Gunther Matzinger broke the world record to take gold in the men’s 800m – T46 this evening after Liu Wenjun took 100m – T54 gold and fellow Chinese athlete Zhou Hongzhuan won the 400m – T53 crown.
World champion Maciej Lepiato took top spot in the men’s High Jump- F46, before Tunisia’s Raoua Tlili threw a world record 9.86m to take the women’s Shot Put – F40 gold.
In the morning session, Australia’s Evan O’Hanlon won his second gold of the Games as he added the 200m title to his 100m – T38 crown.
Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka timed his finish to perfection to snatch gold in the 800m – T13, while there was an Azerbaijan one-two in the Triple Jump – F12 as Oleg Panyutin and Vladimir Zayets finished first and second.
At the Aquatics Centre, Victoria Arlen broke her own world record in the 100m Freestyle -S6 final to bring her turbulent London 2012 campaign to an end in style.
Great Britain’s Ellie Simmonds finished second, meaning she ended London 2012 with four medals – two golds, a silver and a bronze.
Mary Fisher claimed her first title, but fourth medal, in the 200m Individual Medley – SM11 in a world record time of 2:46.91.
In the final aquatic event of London 2012, China set a new world record of 4:09.04 in the men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay – 34 points, four hundredths of a second ahead of Russia whose effort was a European mark.
At Brands Hatch, ex-Formula One driver Alex Zanardi took silver after previously winning the Individual H4 Time Trial and Road Race.
The 45-year-old was part of Italy’s three-person Mixed H1-4 Team Relay line-up that finished behind the USA as Marianna Davis won her third gold of the Games in combination with Matthew Updike and Oscar Sanchez.
The venue also witnessed Great Britain’s David Stone successfully defending his Paralympic title with victory in the Mixed T1-2 Road Race.
At Eton Manor, former helicopter pilot Noam Gershony won the Quad Singles final against David Wagner of the USA.
Japan secured men’s Singles gold after Shingo Kunieda beat France’s Stephane Houdet, while the Netherlands’ record-breaker Esther Vergeer and partner Marjolein Buis won the women’s doubles after defeating compatriots Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot.
Elsewhere, Bosnia and Herzegovina surprised Iran to take gold in the men’s Sitting Volleyball this evening, while Brazil beat France 2-0 to win the men’s 5-a-side Football crown.
There was more success for the South Americans at the ExCeL as they finished top of the Boccia medal table after winning three medals on the final day.
Maciel Sousa Santos beat China’s Yan Zhiqiang to take Mixed Individual – BC2 gold, before Eliseu dos Santos took the BC4 crown and Dirceu Jose Pinto the bronze.
China claimed a sixth gold medal in Wheelchair Fencing by beating France 45-32 in the men’s Team – Category Open final.
There was even more Chinese success at the Table Tennis as they won gold in women’s Team – Class 6-10 final, then the men’s and women’s Class 4-5, before the men’s Class 9-10 team secured a clean sweep.
Patrick Anderson confirmed his status as the player of the tournament as he led Canada to Wheelchair Basketball gold.
The 33-year-old, who came out of retirement last year, has been head and shoulders above the rest of the field here, and he came up big when it mattered most with 34 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in Canada’s 64-58 win over Australia.
Anderson sparked the run that saw Canada take over the lead early in the second quarter, and although Australia fought back to level it 48-48 with seven and a half minutes left, Canada – and Anderson – proved too strong down the stretch.